Executive summary: two of the least powerful PA Democratic Congressmen have been thrown into Thunderdome and told to fight each other; the other five PA Democrats have been, ah, reassured that their seats are safe; and the nine PA Republicans have had their seats generally tweaked and shored up to minimize any possibility of losing their seats any time soon.

And the best adjective to describe PA Democrats’ reaction to this one is probably ‘impotent.’ (more…)

(Via Hot Air) You think that Senator Gregg is maybe just a little bit ticked with the administration for that entire fiasco wrt being Secretary of Commerce*?

Could be, could be. Video summary: Gregg carefully pushed back on Andrea Mitchell’s agitprop that the looming Democratic tax hike was justified, noted that the long term solution to our problem involves SPENDING LESS MONEY, gently reminded all and sundry that it’s not the government’s money in the first place, and genially suggested that rich people who don’t mind paying more taxes should feel free to have a check cut.

It was a good run for the Democrats, but all things must come to an end some day. I know, I know: it’s downright horrible for the American people to start expecting the political party that’s held Congress since 2006 and the White House since 2008 to actually take personal responsibility for the bad things happening to the economy. But the Democrats will have to live with it, as the American people have started to assign more responsibility to Obama for the current economy than to Bush – at least, the Republican and Independent sections of the American people have, which is really the important thing these days.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters now think Obama’s policies are to blame for the continuing bad economy, up three points from last month. Forty-seven percent (47%) say the recession that began under Bush is at fault.

There are, of course, many hidden victims here of this betrayal of the Democratic party by the people of the United States. No, really. I mean, think of all of those soon-to-be Democratic former Congressmen who have to hope that the lobbying industry can handle the sudden influx of new glad-handlers, parasites, and influence-peddlers that comes from a Congressional readjustment! For that matter, think of those poor, poor staffers who next January will be facing the specter of having no job and no prospect of getting one – and in one of the more expensive metropolitan areas, to boot. Some of them may even have to move back in with their parents.

Within hours of Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement last week, establishment Democrats in Indiana and Washington were signaling that Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) was their preferred favorite to succeed him. And by Friday, the last day to file for office, Ellsworth had announced his intention to run for the Senate seat.

It had all the makings of a neatly wrapped package, with just one exception: Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) hadn’t signed off on the succession plan.

Now Hill is suggesting he’s seriously weighing a campaign — and other candidates are making calls to committee members to feel out support — and the process of choosing a Democratic Senate nominee could prove to be a lot messier than originally anticipated.

I was pleased to hear that Senator Evan Bayh had decided to not run for re-election; it meant that we’d pick up a Senate seat. I was also pleased to hear that Rep. Brad Ellsworth had decided to go for the seat; it meant that we’d pick up a Senate and a House seat. But if Baron Hill ends up being the nominee, then Bayh’s sudden retirement will mean that we will pick up a Senate and two House seats: the Democrats can’t make their Senate pick until after the primary and they’ve already picked the sacrificial victim for IN-08. And the progressive base doesn’t really like Ellsworth, anyway (NSFW language).

Some day I hope to hear just what the Obama administration specifically did to Evan Bayh, to fuel this revenge.

You know, Jeff, I understand that you had some… issues… with the Governor of Alaska. That’s fine; nobody’s perfect, of course. But for the items that you packed into your negative assessment of her moral character, I can’t help but notice something: not once were you even able to imply that she was out shtupping the kid of one of her professional colleagues.

I do not know where to begin in excerpting “Cracked Officially Starts Feeling Sorry for MAD Magazine:” I’m not sure that I can, effectively. In some ways, it feels like a situation where wiseass killeth wiseass in a narrow, dusty room – that just happens to have a webcam in it to record the gory details. And they are gory. Gory, deliberately puerile, and hysterically funny.

But not to be a killjoy about this: remember that Silverlock quote I made yesterday? The one about rubbing dung in people’s hair? Yeah, you guys may have pushed the line with the “horse money” bit. People get touchy about not having horse money.